


Blank

by ShunRenDan



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: AU, Christmas 2020, Coffee Shops, Epilogue, F/M, Fluff, Teenage Fumbling, renho, these two are idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28313010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShunRenDan/pseuds/ShunRenDan
Summary: It hurt for him to say that he didn’t recognize most of the faces that filtered in through the doors every morning. Once in a while, he could recognize a regular, but a majority of the faces he saw were blank paper dolls.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren & Suzui Shiho, Amamiya Ren/Suzui Shiho, Kurusu Akira & Suzui Shiho, Kurusu Akira/Suzui Shiho, Persona 5 Protagonist & Suzui Shiho, Persona 5 Protagonist/Suzui Shiho
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39





	Blank

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Ben Lee's song "I'm Willing."

The world was empty in the pre-dawn. Even the streets of Tokyo were near barren, lorded over by the early morning’s cool touch and the sound of distant, rumbling jets plowing through the air toward Narita. It was the perfect time to get out of the house, and for Ren Amamiya, clad in a thick, frumpy sweatshirt and some white sweatpants, it was the only time he felt like he could be himself.

The sun hadn’t yet crested the horizon when he left the house, and it was only beginning to dip toward the sky when he approached the halfway point of his morning jog. It only materialized meaningfully as he turned back toward the cafe for first shift; he managed to change into his work clothes just minutes before the first customer straggled in.

Elsewhere within Leblanc, Morgana was probably sprawled out over the dead center of his bed, his little paws the only thing visible from underneath Ren’s otherwise neatly made spread.

Most of the early clientele consisted of struggling salarymen and bedraggled over-nighters on their ways to-and-from. Every so often, Ryuji would battle his way out of bed to keep him company, but on an early winter morning a full year after their graduation, Rem Amamiya knew better than to entertain that thought.

Makoto kept him busy and Ryuji wasn’t keen to let her down.

Careless Cat clung to the counters and the tabletops as Ren tended to the morning crowd with his friends on his mind.

They’d all been busy, actually.

Yusuke’s art career was taking off. Makoto was a full time student, who somehow found time for a sea of ever-evolving extracurriculars. Ann was a model, and abroad more often than not. Even Futaba was now working part time on the noon shift and taking classes in the morning. If it weren’t a weekend, she would already have been gone, off to go socialize with the others…

Mostly Yusuke, he figured, since Futaba stuck to him like a fly to a swatter.

He wasn’t sure how to feel about Yusuke spending so much time with his sister, or his sister spending so much time with Yusuke, but she seemed happy, and he was happy she was getting out of the house so much more than she used to.

It hurt for him to say that he didn’t recognize most of the faces that filtered in through the doors every morning. Once in a while, he could recognize a regular, but a majority of the faces he saw were blank paper dolls.

Leblanc’s empty period came around ten, after the breakfast rush but before the lunch crowd rolled in.

It was then, roughly ten-fifteen, that he recognized a familiar head cut through the door.

Shiho Suzui was not an intimidating figure. Her shoulders were slumped and her hair, messily tied into a bun that morning, looked like a bundle of mud dropped onto a sheet of pale wax paper. Two doe eyes stood out in the center of her face, and when they met his, he could tell that Suzui was getting ready to bolt out the door. It was as if she’d forgotten that he worked there, or perhaps hoped he might have moved on.

Ren gave her a nod.

Let her take a seat at the bar.

Then approached.

“Morning,” he said.

 _Smooth_ , he thought, _like whiskey._

“Good morning.”

“Can I get you something? Coffee, tea?”

Suzui took a deep breath.

“You haven’t been here in a while,” he thought aloud. “Want me to surprise you? The menu’s really grown.”

“That would be nice.”

Ren turned his back to her and started brewing something sweet. Every so often, he risked a peek over his shoulder to spot the girl with the brown hair waiting for him at the bar. From the way she walked in, she was doing a little better than the last time he saw her. Didn’t look like she enjoyed the winter all that much — a thick, black jacket with a heavy hood across the shoulders insulated her pretty well, though. He was a little surprised she wasn’t taking it off in Leblanc’s warm interior… but he wasn’t going to comment on it.

He brought her a mocha with plenty of cream and leaned across the bar as she sipped it. He’d drizzled a little caramel over it, made sure to make it as sweet as he could. Suzui didn’t seem like the type of girl who liked her coffee bitter, if she liked coffee at all.

She pulled away from her first drag with a subtle smile, and he knew he’d hit the mark.

“It’s nice,” she decided.

“Happy to hear that,” he said. “Haven’t seen you in a while. Or Ann.”

“She’s busy.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m… not as busy, I suppose. It’s just hard to leave the house these days.”

Ren couldn’t blame her for that, and so he took to wiping down the bar while she continued her thought process out loud. It didn’t occur to him that she might still be in recovery until she mentioned it.

“The weather’s been so cold… it hurts my joints. It isn’t easy walking anywhere when it’s this chilly out. It makes me want to stay indoors… but it’s nice to go out every so often.”

“To feel normal,” Ren supposed.

“Yes.”

He wasn’t sure _exactly_ how to respond. He’d never been very good with words. Actions were more his thing. Ren watched her stare into her cup from across the bar, wiping down one of his own. It took a glance at the clock for him to get any idea of what to do.

“It’s break time for me,” he said.

“Ah. Should I…?”

“Mind if I join you?”

Suzui jumped. Her hands flew in front of her face like windshield wipers.

“Oh, uhm… no, that would be nice!”

Ren threw the rag over his shoulder and rounded the bar, and before he knew it the door was locked and the two of them were sitting in a corner booth together. He nursed a black coffee between his hands like an infant, and she, on her second mocha latte, seemed a lot more talkative with the doors closed to company.

Some of his questions were standard stuff; how she was doing, whether or not she was feeling okay, how she liked the city. She’d been gone for a while, after all, and it was strange to see her back. She explained that she was supposed to be back for the winter while she scoped out nearby universities.

“Late start,” Ren remarked.

“I didn’t have a choice. Recovery’s…”

 _Been slow,_ he assumed.

“Don’t worry about it. You do your thing.”

“That’s what my father said, too.”

“What’re you going to major in?”

“Sport psychology. I want to help people.”

“Noble.”

Suzui bit down on her knuckle, then, as if catching herself in some gross act, quickly snatched her coffee up instead.

“I’m not sure. It feels like the right thing to do.”

“Helping people?”

“In the way that — I don’t want someone to go through what… I want to help raise a generation of people who understand each other better,” she explained. “Who understand themselves better, too.”

Ren mirrored her.

Took a sip.

His black coffee didn’t taste as good as her drink must’ve. She was halfway through her second cup by the time she said anything else.

“You still work here?”

“For now,” he said.

“Till when?”

He shrugged.

“Ah,” she hummed, deep in thought.

It wasn’t like him to wait around. Tokyo life was supposed to be exciting. Full of adventure. Promise. His friends were all out chasing fame and acknowledgement, except for Futaba, who seemed content in her anonymity for a bit longer yet. He was the only one stuck in place.

“I like it here,” he said.

“Here?”

“Leblanc. With the old man.”

“Is it nice?”

“It’s very quiet.”

Suzui looked around the shop’s mahogany and chestnut interior. Ren kept it in good shape, but as Sojiro’s shifts grew shorter and shorter, that job was becoming a little harder day by day. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“Sojiro wants me to take the place on,” he guessed.

“All by yourself?”

“Futaba would help, a little.”

She didn’t react to that. Instead, she leaned back in the seat, her arms folded over each other and her eyes wandering the shop like a curator at a circus. The whole place looked older than its bones.

“That may be difficult.”

“Maybe.”

Ren took a drag from his coffee.

“So you’re thinking about moving back to the city?”

“It would be easier to see Ann that way. She wouldn’t have to come out to the countryside to see me, anymore. I could pick her up at the airport, or… she could get a ride to my apartment, or, somewhere else. Wherever I’m staying.”

It took Ren a second to realize that this was the most he’d ever heard Suzui talk. Her voice was brittle, but breathy, in a way he considered pleasing. It wasn’t shrill like Futaba’s, or stentorian like Ann’s. It was unique, he thought, and warm.

“Do you have a place yet?”

“I will in a few days.”

The rest of the conversation wasn’t very impactful. He took in little bits here or there, made sure she intended to come back, and then wiped down the table when she left. It didn’t take long for him to miss the company.

Suzui didn’t come back the next day or the day after, but she came back before the end of the week. By then, late November gave way to early December, and the winter’s chill was finally upon them in earnest. Cool fog gathered on the bay windowsill like a crowd massing for the year’s execution, and the crowd thinned out in the mornings as more and more travelers decided not to risk stopping for an early coffee.

Ren understood that feeling. His daily jogs fell away before long, replaced by a simple, indoor routine that he didn’t have to brave the cold for. He didn’t mind the winter very much, but the shop was a bit lonelier for it.

When Suzui came through the door again, it was on his only evening shift that week, just before closing. She approached the counter with a little more confidence than last time, and she placed her order with a smug grin that told him she had something to celebrate.

“One mocha latte, please,” she demanded.

“With caramel drizzle,” he assumed.

“Yes, please. Caramel drizzle, too. To celebrate.”

“Wow, lady,” he whistled. “Got something good going on?”

“I’ve finished moving into my new apartment.”

“Closed on one that fast?”

“I never said it was a very good apartment.”

“Fair enough,” Ren laughed, preparing her drink.

She watched him from behind the counter; every so often, she glanced toward the door, as if expecting — or afraid of — some new customer to come barging through. He looked whenever she did, but nobody came. The end of the day was a quiet time for Leblanc; most people didn’t like having to come in at night. Every so often, he’d get a night shifter on their way in.

“Good to hear you’re all set,” Ren mused. “I’d have helped you move, if you asked.”

“I would never,” she countered.

“It’s not like I’m busy.”

“This place is packed.”

He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Right. To the brim.”

“Absolutely filled.”

They lapsed into quiet conversation for a while. He didn’t know exactly when the clock ran out on his shift, but he knew he was an hour late to closing the door when she left, and a little sad to see her go. With everyone else so busy, he wondered when she might leave him too. If he would mind as much as he did with the others.

After a while, he grew used to seeing her in the shop. Her presence was a familiarity he hadn’t experienced in a while; she wasn’t a replacement for Ryuji or Makoto, but she was someone all her own, and that was comforting.

It was just…

Nice to have someone new around.

The first time he ran into her outside of Leblanc, he could hardly believe his eyes. He caught her just outside of the local market, where the store’s shipment of coffee grounds could be offloaded down the street. It was so close by that he should have expected it.

He didn’t say anything at first. It felt easier to let her have that grace, and with everything she’d been through, Ren Amamiya was not looking to force her into any sort of social…

“Ren?”

She caught him staring.

Ren, with a box full of sacks in his hand and a single sweat drop sliding down the lefthand side of his face, heavily debated ducking behind the loading truck. Before he could get the chance, however, she approached him, weaving through the thin crowd of stalls to find him at the truck’s ramp.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” she thought aloud.

For a second, she inspected him. He watched her pace around to his side, as if checking him for some imaginary wound.

“Do you come here often?”

“That sounds like a pickup line,” he countered.

Suzui turned a shade of red never before seen by the likes of man. With barn doors for cheeks, she tried to deflect— 

“No, it’s…”

“It’s alright,” he said. “I was just kidding.”

“It’s not that I’d… I don’t mean that you’re…”

Ren laughed.

“It’s alright. Seriously. It’s good to see you outside, even if it is freezing.”

Suzui pulled her scarf up to hide her cheeks. She was dressed a little thicker than he was used to seeing; a red winter scarf covered both her neck and cheeks, while a heavy jacket shrouded her shoulders and obfuscated a simple, striped sweater. With a pair of khaki shorts and thick, black leggings to round her out, she looked more put together than he remembered. Mature, in some way that he couldn’t quantify.

“You look nice.”

“Oh, thank you,” she said.

Some part of him wondered if her cheeks were still red under that scarf. She picked at its frayed edges with the ends of her fingers and changed the subject as gracefully as she could.

“I was hoping to come by later. How late will you…?”

“We’ll be open,” he promised.

Suzui tugged the front of her scarf down and issued him a small, almost proud smile.

“You’re practically my favorite customer. It’d be a shame to lose your business. I could run a charity off of your lattes alone.”

“I’m not sure who you would donate to.”

“Children. Probably. Gremlins.”

“Gremlins?”

“Futaba needs a Christmas gift too,” he explained. “I just can’t feed her after midnight.”

“Or she’ll become a monster.”

“Right.”

“Do you need help?”

Ren looked at the boxes left on the truck. There were two left. He figured he could stack one on his current box if it meant she’d get the last one, but…

“It’s the least I can do.”

“Sure,” he decided. “Take this one. Be careful. Don’t strain yourself.”

It didn’t take the two of them long to get back to Leblanc, closed for Ren’s break, or to stack the boxes by the door. He’d need to carry them into the back room later, but for now, it was nice just to have some help.

Not just that, but it was nice to have Suzui around.

She was familiar, and friendly, and she smelled vaguely of cinnamon. Ren thought of that as he put his boxes down on top of hers and rose to greet her, only to realize exactly how close she was standing to him. They were both there in the doorway, and with her eyes locked on his, he felt a strange — unfamiliar — buzz.

It was both heady and sweet, but full of pressure. His lips parted with a soft _click_ , and for a second, he wondered if she felt it too.

It felt like their eyes were stuck together until Sojiro called out from the back room.

“Kid, is that you?”

Ren ripped his gaze away from Suzui’s face.

“Yeah.”

“Got the bags?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Bring ‘em on back.”

“Will do.”

When Ren turned back to her, Suzui’s eyes were stuck on the ground. Or on his shoes. Or her shoes. They were latching onto anything that wasn’t his face. Running a hand through his hair, Ren drew his phone from his pocket.

“Hey, text me before you come by later,” he said. “So I know when you’re coming. I can unlock the door for you if it’ll be late.”

And he gave her his phone number.

Suzui gave him hers without objection — and teased him for the fact that his wallpaper was a photo of Morgana spread eagle and halfway falling off the couch.

When she stepped away, it was strange to see her go, and the buzz lingered.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, nerd.
> 
> Thinking of you.


End file.
